Generic Requirements for Optical Fiber Fanouts

Optical testing criteria specified in GR-2866-CORE are to qualify optical fiber fanouts by exposing them to various indoor and outdoor hazards. These potential hazards are then simulated per the required test conditions, methods, and sub-set documents referenced within GR-2866 (TIA/EIA, ASTM, ANSI, and UL 94).

A fanout sample is a multi-fiber and/or ribbon cable, with a housing unit in the form of a transition block with either exposed fiber ribbons on one end or fiber ribbons contained in a buffer tube. The connectors of these samples are fusion spliced to the fibers that are routed from the opposite end of the housing unit; some fibers however, can consist of differently colored cable jackets (depending on certain products). Fanouts can have 2 to 24 and/or more, optical pathways (usually in intervals of 2, 4, 6, 12, 16, 24, or more). The design of the fanout samples is to have the product serve as a flexible installation conduit.

A fanout can be used – at a customer home, central office, etc – to provide a network signal to multiple outputs by establishing a connection from a ribbon stub to connector port. The product splices its fiber ribbons to the ribbon stubs in order to allow passage of the signal to the ports by way of fiber connector from the fanout. Testing listed in GR-2866 mimics the usage of the product and stress its optical performance to different weather climates. One example is Salt Fog that tests the sample’s optical performance while exposed to a salt environment.